“By thy ungallant bearing and sad mien,
An inch appears the utmost thou couldst budge;
Yet at the slightest nod, or hint, or sign,
Round to the curb-stone patient dost thou trudge;
School’d in a beckon, learned in a nudge;
A dull-eyed Argus watching for a fare;
Quiet and plodding, thou doest bear no grudge
To whisking Tilburies, or Phaetons rare,
Curricles, or Mail-coaches, swift beyond compare.”
Dickens was familiar with these hackneys, and in one of the Sketches by Boz draws a picture of them.